Chapter 107
"Hey, miss, are you okay?"
A pair of hands helped her to her feet.
Latisha looked up to see a young man who looked like a college student, dressed in a white puffer jacket with headphones around his neck and a backpack slung over his shoulder.
Latisha wiped her tears and shook her head.
"Glad you're alright. You should head home," the young man said with a grin before turning and walking away.
Latisha stood there as the cold wind whipped around her, feeling a chill she had never known before. She sat down on a nearby stone step and took out her phone,
looking at Nikita's message.
Nikita: [What happened?]
Staring at the screen, Latisha didn't know how to reply. She just sat there in a daze.
After two hours, she finally stood up and hailed a taxi, heading to the junkyard where Mrs. Dashiell used to live.
She arrived at the small shack. It was empty; they had taken all of Mrs. Dashiell's things last time, leaving only a bare mattress on a simple frame. Latisha walked over and sat down on the bed, her hand gently stroking the dusty sheet.
Etherea City was so vast. Where could she possibly find Preston?
She took out her phone and aimlessly scrolled through her contacts until her eyes landed on a name: Mrs. Dashiell. She had bought her a phone and almost forgotten about it.
Latisha quickly dialed the number. It rang for a long time, but no one answered. Unwilling to give up, she tried several more times, but eventually, the calls went straight to a notification that the phone was off.
Her hand dropped to her side. She sat in the shack, lost and confused, a knot of worry tightening in her stomach. Why wasn't she answering?
Mrs. Dashiell wasn't ignoring her calls. Her phone was at the bottom of a river.
Moments earlier, when Preston had tried to snatch it from her, she had thrown it out the car window in a panic.
Preston slammed on the brakes, jumped out of the car, and ran to the guardrail. He peered down at the rushing water below, but the small, simple phone was long gone.
He stormed back to the car, pointing a finger at the old woman and yelling, "You old hag! You think throwing away the phone means I can't get the money? I know where that mute girl lives. I'll just go straight to her next time!"
Mrs. Dashiell trembled with rage. "If you dare go near her, I'll kill myself right in front of you!"
"What did that mute girl do for you to make you so protective of her? Have you forgotten about your own grandson?"
"I'm an old woman! I can't even take care of myself, how can I take care of anyone else?" Mrs. Dashiell said with a bitter laugh I'm already halfway in the grave and you re still trying to use me to make a quick buck. Preston, you will get what you déserve one day.”
Preston scoffed. "Even if I do, you won't be around to see it. Just behave yourself. I can see that mute girl cares a lot about you. She'll find a way to get me the money.' He sneered guess being the Lambert family's dog for so many years wasn't completely useless after all."
For years, Preston had lived off the money she earned as a servant, all while being ashamed of his mother's profession, feeling like he couldn't hold his head high in public.
Mrs. Dashiell closed her eyes, the veins on the back of her wrinkled hands standing out. She had nothing more to say to him.
...
Latisha sat in the small shack until dusk before finally getting up to head back to the villa.
Standing in front of the dark,
imposing gate, she looked at the empty house beyond and suddenly lost the courage to go inside. A
thought flashed through her
How did Preston find this place? He hadn't bothered with his mother for years, so how did he suddenly know where Mrs. Dashiell was?
As if confirming her fears, her fingers began to tremble.